Date: January 16th, 2020
Opening Bands: The Krays, The Droogettes, Mick’s Jaguar

The first show of the year for me was the legendary UK punk band, The Adicts! I’ve been listening to Adicts for awhile but I never seen them live before, for whatever reason. What a mistake that was because they are definitely one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen.

I’ve been working from home and can’t drive until about April or May (for medical reasons), so I needed to get the hell out of my apartment. This show was a good excuse and I could just walk to the train station, even though it’s a weeknight with 4 bands on the bill. There should only ever be, at the max, 3 bands on a bill on a weeknight. That’s another debate for another time. I got down into Manhattan at a decent time, grabbed some food at Shake Shack and then headed to Gramercy Theatre for the opening bands.

Venue was already pretty filled up, so I knew this was going to sell out. I did coat check since it finally got cold in NY for the winter (it was almost 70 degrees the previous weekend). I was also trying out these new customized earplugs I got for Xmas. They were decent in price ($30-$40 bucks range called Decibullz), put them in boiling water and molds to your ears and they worked out fairly well. I feel like I could go a size smaller for the earplug part since I kept adjusting them throughout the night. I guess it’s better than putting tissues in my ears, which I have been doing for decades. Anyway, the first band was Mick’s Jaguar who are from NYC and have a hard rock and roll kind of style. I dug their set and they were fun to take pictures of.

After them were The Droogettes, obvious name homage to A Clockwork Orange. A very droogie type of show that night with them and The Adicts. While Mick’s Jaguar was a more rock and roll type of band, the rest of the bands were more punk rock. The Droogettes were cool and like their set too, but didn’t know what they played besides a “Skulls” cover of the Misfits at the end of their set.

The Krays were up next and I only know a few tracks, mainly from the Oi/Skampilation and other stuff from the 90s. I never saw the Krays though and I really enjoyed their set. They upped the ante a bit with the punk and seemed like the crowd was finally getting into it. The venue had to make the gates closer to the walls so they could fit everybody in, especially with the moshing. At this point, the club was sold out or maybe even oversold.

I was enjoying their set until I got a text message from my bank telling me my debit card was hacked. I made my way through the crowd and then downstairs, but it was just as loud down there to talk to the bank. I managed to get the card closed before any more damage was done. I almost lost a lens cap while on the phone, thankfully another photographer and security found it for me. Not what I needed that night but I got everything situated the next morning at my bank. Sorry to the Krays for not being able to see the rest of their set.

The Adicts were up next, a little later than people originally thought. Queue the Clockwork Orange theme song music and the band came out to applause. Keith “Monkey” Warren came on stage with an interesting suit with wings and the band went into “Let’s Go.” The rest of the band dressing up like droogies in A Clockwork Orange. Makes me want to watch the movie by the way. I immediately starting snapping as many photos as I could. Monkey is such a great frontman, doing card tricks for “Joker in the Pack,” or playing around with a light-up umbrella, throwing confetti and streamers, shooting water guns into the crowd. Just a fun band to see live! I’m kicking myself for not seeing them sooner.

When he was throwing cards into the crowd, one landed by me in the photo pit. I grabbed it even though a fan wanted it. Hey, I’m a fan too you know. I gave her and some other fans other cards when I found some more, so I’m not a complete piece of shit. I just wanted one that had his iconic logo on the card. After the 3 songs, I tried to find a spot to watch the show and luckily found a seat in the seating area. I was sitting next to an older guy (than me) dressed up in full “Alex” gear, that’s how much of an impact The Adicts have had on people. I saw others dressed up as Droogies and one woman was creepily laughing so loud all night, like freaky loud. Maybe she has the condition the Joker had in the latest movie about the Batman villain?

Other songs that were a highlight included “Horror Show,” “Johnny Was A Soldier,” “Life Goes On,” “Troubadour,” “Fuck It Up,” and “Crazy.” I must admit I don’t know every song in the catalog but that didn’t matter, The Adicts were one of those bands that you just go and watch the spectacle. Towards the end of the set, they play “Who Spilt My Beer” and Monkey wore a beer hat. Then he proceeded to fill it up with 2 cups of beer and throw the hat into the crowd. Of course can’t mention hearing my favorites from the Adicts, “Chinese Takeaway” and “Viva La Revolution.” It was awesome to finally hear those songs live! After that, I went downstairs to get my coat and buy an Adicts shirt while they were playing “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” Remember, buy band merch when you see them live – that way they keep coming back! Listening to Spotify or something similar won’t help them very much. I believe The Adicts played “Ode To Joy” after that but I headed home.

I’m glad I came out to the show because the Adicts were excellent live! Such a fun band to see with all there hijinks and catchy punk tunes. The rest of the bands were good too. The band is on tour now so if they are visiting a town near you, check them out!

Here’s some of my favorite photos of the night, I’ll have A LOT more photos on Skapunkphotos.com soon!

Mick’s Jaguar

The Droogettes

The Krays

The Adicts